on the balcony

Kind of laid back.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Sweden!

Some of my friends and I took a ferry over to Gothenburg, Sweden for a night just yesterday. It was amazing. The ferry ride in itself through the Baltic was fantastic. I can say that I was very impressed with Sweden...I almost wish that I had chosen to study there, though I think it would be too expensive. Don't get me wrong, I really am enjoying Aalborg, I just feel that the culture here is more oriented towards the shopaholics than, say, people that collect music. Everything is very mainstream and most of the young people here dress like the greek life kids back home. I can say they don't act that way, everyone is very nice and substantial, but I was hoping to find more of a counterculture here. I guess that's just not what Aalborg is about.
I am very excited to start school, as I am lead to believe the manner in which the classes are taught is significantly different and far more progressive than most other universities in the world. Also, it doesn't seem that there are any other international students participating in the Psychology program I am enrolled in, so I will probably be spending a lot of time with danish students, as opposed to the American students I have met. It seems the americans are really trying to stick together and I'm not very into that. I have made many friends from Germany, Canada, Italy and Austrailia whom I like very much.
One thing I have been struggling with here is my nationality. Of course, I have yet to meet anyone who has given me trouble about being from the US, but it seems people are less interested in Americans, like we're not very token among the groups of other international students or maybe we're not taken as seriously. I have only been here for about two weeks so I can't say that this is true, but it is just the impression I've gotten. Maybe it's just me, which is quite possible. Who knows.

Okay...I have just read over what I have written so far and my style is terrible! I have already had some conversations with my other enlish-speaking friends about something like this. We have noticed that being around people who are speaking english as a second language has effected our vocabulary and the level of complexity in which we speak. I find this very interesting, yet also very frustrating as I compare previous posts to this one. I fear that speaking simply may lead to thinking more simply and thats not going to help me at all. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, as with everything. Alright, I only have so much time alotted to use the computer and I need to get my web-surfing fix, so I think my rambling will end for now. Hopefully I will be able to update more often once I am on campus more. So, until next time...thanks for stopping by and take care!